Benjamuna's Blog

Will any yellow taxi in Kolkata still be a Yellow Taxi?

Everybody who visits Kolkata for the first time, and with a camera in hand, most probably feels an urgent need to click-click-click. What they have seen is the iconic “Yellow Taxi”. Not only is the color beautiful, a deep yellow – like an egg yolk, but the shape of an Ambassador car is a style of its own. Round shapes all over. Pure nostalgia.

In recent years these yellow taxis have been replaced by white ones and who would lift their camera to take a photo of a white car. Instead, we stand firm with our cameras, ready at every corner and wait for a yellow taxi to pass. We place ourselves in a position so that when a yellow taxi appears it matches what we have already decided to put in the frame. If the first try fails, there will soon be another chance. The sea of cars is endless, pleasing to the eye only because of those yellow cars that light up even the most horrible traffic jam. In Kolkata, a yellow taxi always completes a photo.

Above: A yellow sign needs a yellow taxi. Just wait for it!

The facts are: The yellow taxis were introduced in 1962, but the yellow Ambassador was down to 7000 in 2024. India has a 15-year service limit on commercial vehicles which means that numbers will still decline. But will Kolkata let go of their yellow taxis? A cultural staple for decades?

There are still plenty left to make good photos, or so it seemed in February 2026. But the yellow taxi is probably not the chosen one when you’re going somewhere. We want Ubers and their likes who can tell us the price in advance and support us with GPS tracking.

Every member of the Kolkata Tourist Board is of course aware of how the Yellow Taxi is part of the city’s cultural identity. As are the hand-pulled rickshaws, but that is an identity harder to maintain.

A newspaper article in The Times of India (2025) reveals how the taxis of Kolkata can still be yellow, but alas, not necessarily in the shape of an Ambassador. The last Ambassador was manufactured in 2014 and the ones who still cruise the streets will slowly disappear. Instead, any taxi can now be painted yellow. But will a yellow taxi of any brand still be a Yellow Taxi? Probably not – at least not from a photographer’s view. Before the remaining 3000 yellow Ambassadors become history – get your camera ready!

Over: Taxis come to Wellington Square every morning where they’re groomed and made ready for another day!
Below: Negotiating a price is part of the game!